Some makers and users of steel and aluminum in East Tennessee panned the tariffs President Donald Trump is expected to impose Thursday on those metals.

Arconic, which spun off from aluminum-maker Alcoa Inc. in 2016, has facilities in Alcoa and Morristown. Arconic spokeswoman Christa Zipf referred a request for comment to the Aluminum Association trade group, which issued a statement Tuesday on the proposed tariffs.

The association is “deeply concerned about the effects of a global tariff on aluminum production and jobs in the United States,” according to a letter the group sent to Trump this week.

Billets of aluminum wait to be manufactured at the Protomet Corp. facility in Oak Ridge Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. Jeff Bohanan, founder and president, said the company plans to expand its facility and add about 200 jobs over the next five years. Protomet is considering moving out of the Oak Ridge area because of a lack of room to grow further. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)(Photo: AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS)

“Unfortunately, the tariffs proposed will do little to address the fundamental problem of massive aluminum overcapacity in China, while impacting supply chains with vital trading partners who play by the rules,” Aluminum Association President and CEO Heidi Brock said in the announcement. “We fear that the proposed tariff may do more harm than good, hurting rather than helping the 97 percent of aluminum industry jobs in mid-and-downstream production processes.”

The trade group, representing 114 companies with 713,000 jobs, instead asked Trump to target China as an over-producer, and exempt “vital trading partners” such as Canada and Europe from any tariff.

Aluminum is $7 billion industry in Tennessee

Aluminum is a $7 billion industry in Tennessee, providing about 5,400 jobs at 35 manufacturing facilities and nearly 10,000 more at supply firms, according to the Aluminum Association.

Gerdau’s Knoxville steel mill makes reinforcing bar, or rebar, which is used to reinforce concrete in bridges, buildings and other structures.(Photo: Submitted by Moxley Carmichael)

Volkswagen, a major consumer of steel and aluminum, has a distribution center in Kingston and a major manufacturing plant near Chattanooga. The company wouldn’t comment on how tariffs might impact Tennessee operations directly, but did issue a general statement, said Jeannine Ginivan, senior manager of corporate and internal communications for Volkswagen Group of America Inc.

“The Volkswagen Group has made significant long-term investments in the United States that would be impaired by restrictive changes to trade including the proposed steel and aluminum tariffs,” the statement reads. “As part of a global company with an enthusiastic outlook for operational growth in the United States, it is our hope, in view of the importance of the automotive industry that the policymakers will maintain free and fair trade. Maintaining the existing trade rules keeps the United States a competitive marketplace for jobs, cost of goods and investments.”

Volkswagen vehicles for sale are on display on the lot of a VW dealership in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)(Photo: Brennan Linsley)

Ginivan also pointed to a March 1 statement from the auto makers and dealers group Here For America, to which Volkswagen belongs. The group opposes the tariffs, saying they would wipe out the effect of December’s corporate tax cut, cost jobs, and damage national security.

“Automakers and their American consumers will bear the brunt caused by raising prices of two metals essential to the production of cars and trucks in the U.S.,” Here For America said. “More expensive steel and aluminum will not simply raise the price of cars and trucks. It will increase the price of any and all goods that use steel and aluminum — Air Force planes, Navy ships, and Army vehicles — meaning that the Pentagon’s budget will buy fewer of them.”

Several other makers and users of steel and aluminum in East Tennessee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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The last time a trade war happened in the U.S., things didn't go well for the economy. Will history repeat itself as Trump puts a tariff on steel and aluminum? Here are the facts.
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